Nursing crisis confirms dire state of public healthcare

Health minister Joe Phaahla has laid bare the public healthcare crisis, telling MPs SA has just over 22,000 nurses to serve more than 50-million people who rely on the sector.

Replying to a question from the DA, Phaahla said that more than 30% of the 22,090 nurses employed are due to retire in the next 10 years and a further 38% will retire a decade later. There are 5,060 vacancies for various nursing specialities, he added.

The minister said he “is unable to state the envisaged time frame to fill the vacant positions due to general budget cuts that negatively affect the Compensation of Employment” and that the filling of vacant posts were prioritised “where the budgets permit”, said DA MP Michéle Clarke.

The Rural Health Advocacy Project said recently that many nurses were unemployed because of mismatches between the categories of nurses being trained and the category of skills required, inconsistent and poor training, the reluctance of nurses to work in rural and remote areas, and unfunded vacancies in the public sector.

Last month, private healthcare network Netcare voiced its concern about a critical shortage of nurses and its frustration that private hospitals are restricted from accelerating training to deal with the shortfall.

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